Spark is a JavaScript library that allows the simple integration of data from all over the Web in any HTML page, using a rich set of visualisations. This extension enabled embedding of spark mashups using <spark /> tags.

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Spark is a JavaScript library that allows the simple integration of data from all over the Web in any HTML page, using a rich set of visualizations. This extension enabled embedding of spark mashups using <spark /> tags.

The web is not only growing in sheer size, but it also grows in how much it is interconnected. Where once the Web was a set of more or less separated sites, today sites are more and more being connected. More and more data is being offered on the Web in a way that can be further processed, and more and more sites and applications are using external data. More and more mashups are created, where data from different sources is integrated and displayed with novel visualisations.

Spark is a library that enables HTML authors to create mashups more easily than ever before. Using standard Web technologies like SPARQL, RDF, HTML5, and JavaScript, Spark can query external knowledge sources (so called triple stores or SPARQL endpoints), and then visualise the results.

With Spark, website developers can create visually appealing mashups without having to write a single line of JavaScript, but merely using some markup elements describing the source of the data that is to be shown, a query to select the appropriate data, and selecting one from an expandable set of visualisations and their parameters.

This MediaWiki extension, unsurprisingly titled Spark, adds a <spark> tag to MediaWiki which is equivalent to <div class=”spark”> as described in the spark library documentation. All parameters (except the class=”spark” one) can just be copied over between spark divs in web pages, and the <spark> tag in MediaWiki.

Configuration of Spark is done by adding simple PHP statements to your LocalSettings.php file. These statements need to be placed AFTER the inclusion of Spark. The options are listed below and their default is set in the Spark settings file. You should NOT modify the settings file, but can have a look at it to get an idea of how to use the settings, in case the below descriptions do not suffice.

Spark is fully internationalized. Translation of Spark messages is done through translatewiki.net. The translation for this extension can be found here. To add language values or change existing ones, you should create an account on translatewiki.net, then request permission from the administrators to translate a certain language or languages on this page (this is a very simple process). Once you have permission for a given language, you can log in and add or edit whatever messages you want to in that language.